Luxury Hotels and Commission Lure: Cybercrime Module with Chinese Connection Busted in Delhi
Luxury Hotels and Commission Lure: Cybercrime Module with Chinese Connection Busted in Delhi
New Delhi: Dev Bhati (36), a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, had come to Delhi to help a person he had contacted on Telegram. The man tried to use Bhati’s bank account for some transactions and offered Bhati, who was facing financial difficulties, a commission in return. On reaching Delhi, Bhati found out that he was one of the 125 people called to the city, who were part of a syndicate seeking accounts on rent.
The account holders were put up in plush hotels and their accounts were misused to siphon off money from the accounts of unsuspecting victims. Bhati was shocked to see ₹1.25 crore in his account within just 48 hours. Something similar happened with other people as well. These people had no idea that they were trapped in a China-backed cybercrime module engaged in siphoning off crores of rupees from unsuspecting individuals in Delhi and other parts of the country.
The police arrested four people while investigating the case of busting the module and duping the victim of ₹35 lakh, a day after it was revealed that the Indian kingpin of the syndicate was allegedly working with three Chinese nationals. They communicated through different digital identities for five to six months.
The gang had assigned each person a specific task. Their primary responsibility was to maintain round-the-clock surveillance of the account holders. When a substantial amount of money was deposited in their accounts, several people, including Bhati, were tempted to withdraw a part of the money but were prevented from leaving the hotel by bouncers deployed to stop them.
Their movements were monitored and their calls and messages were also monitored. Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, the police said they approached their target people posing as law enforcement officials. Threatened them by saying that SIM cards issued in their names were being used in money laundering and other crimes. After this, they carried out a ‘digital arrest’.
The police said the scared victims would agree to the ‘verification’ process and hand over their bank account details to the fraudsters, who would empty the accounts within minutes. The money was allegedly sent through multiple accounts and wallets opened in the name of some people and shell companies and eventually withdrawn.
The Central Delhi Police, which investigated the case, found a current account in ICICI Bank opened in the name of a shell company Fitness in Noida. Its owner was named Dev Bhati. Further, Bhati was arrested using an intelligence network and technical surveillance.
About The Author:
Yogesh Naager is a content marketer who specializes in the cybersecurity and B2B space. Besides writing for the News4Hackers blogs, he also writes for brands including Craw Security, Bytecode Security, and NASSCOM.
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